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What is Vespers all about? Setting aside a time for personal prayer and devotional goes all the way back to the time of Jesus and was observed by the apostles in the Book of Acts. The early Church continued to adopt and adapt the “canonical hours” - seven set daily prayers at a specific time (matins, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline) - that are in tune with the rhythm of creation. For example, Vespers is a service of light that is prayed as the sun goes down. We pray this together, inviting and trusting that God accompanies through even the darkest of nights.

Many churches still continue to observe the hours, especially Matins (morning prayer), Vespers (evening prayer), and Compline (night prayer). In fact our hymnal - the ELW - has liturgies for these three prayers (p. 298 - 327). Many lay folks are unaware of the historical importance of these daily prayers and, in the ELCA, are only familiar with Evening Prayer through more popular liturgies, such as Holden Evening Prayer. But there are so many other Evening Prayer services out there that we want to explore together with you! So join us weekly - Thursday’s at 6pm beginning January 10th - for a short prayer service as we join our ancestors in faith in these ancient prayers.